This sefer is an English adaptation of various drashos on the festivals and auspicious days in the Jewish calendar, presented by the author of the Bilvavi Mishkan Evneh series. The sefer explains the inner, spiritual dimension of these time periods and highlights the appropriate personal avodah for these ”holydays.”
As with the author’s previously published works, the ultimate goal is to assist the reader to come closer to Hashem on a personal and intimate level – to “sense the reality of the Creator in our hearts.”
This sefer includes the well-known holy days of the year, such as Rosh HaShanah, Yom Kippur, Succos, Pesach, Shavuos; Chanukah and Purim. It also incorporates deep, spiritual Torah wisdom on the less familiar holydays, such as Tu B’Shevat and Lag B’Omer. Auspicious time periods in the Jewish calendar such as the Three Weeks, Elul, and Shovavim are also addressed.
Several of the author’s earlier seforim have received Rabbinical endorsements from Rav Serayah Deblitzki, Rav Sender Erlanger, Rav Moshe Mordechai Karp, Rav Yitzchok Meir Morgenstern, Rav Yitzchok Zilberstein and Rav Yitzchok Menachem Weinberg, the Tolna Rebbe.
The author’s previous seforim have been taught in hundreds of classes given by Rav Moshe Weinberger of Congregation Aish Kodesh in Woodmere, NY. The Yashar Foundation - of which Rav Yitzchak Berkovits of Yerushalayim is the Rabbinic advisor - also offers classes based on the author’s seforim in the New York metropolitan area and Yerushalayim.
264 pages
• • •
Editor’s Introduction 9
Rosh HaShanah | Spiritual Vitality 10
A Meaningful Life | A Life Of “Chiyus” – To Have Real Vitality In Our Life | Two Judgments On Rosh Hashanah | To Feel That Torah Gives Us Life | You Only Get What You Ask For! | More Internal Chiyus, Less External Chiyus Required | Chiyus First & Then Kabballos! | What’s Left – Only Torah And The Ma’asim Tovim | Nourished By Our Torah Learning | Knowing The Reality, Not Just An Idea
Ten Days of Teshuvah | Seeking Hashem Himself 39
“Melech HaMishpat” – The Time In Which Hashem Is Actually Judging | How We Should Approach The Middos of Hashem | Yom Kippur – Entering Hashem’s Inner Chamber
Yom Kippur | Disconnecting From Sin 45
A Day Of The Soul Without The Body | The Purity Available Only On Yom Kippur | Lessons From Yom Kippur Applied To The Rest Of The Year | Disconnecting Completely From Impurity | Why Confessing Without Regretting Is Pointless | The Meaning Of Regret: Giving Back The Evil Enjoyment | A Day To Disconnect From Physical Pleasure | The Pain Must Equal The Pleasure | Purifying Ourselves | Erasing the Connection To Evil | True Pleasure | After Yom Kippur: Making A Self-Accounting | True Desire For Spiritual Life
Succos | Lulav In Our Heart 74
The Torah Is Eternal, And Its Lessons Are Eternal | A “Stolen Lulav” | Copying Another Person’s Avodas Hashem | Copying Is Really Stealing | A “Dry Lulav” | Acting By Rote | A Lulav Used For “Idol Worship” | An Adult With A Childish Heart | “How Is It Going…?” | Lulav From A “Condemned City” | Our Physical Heart And Our Spiritual Heart | A Lulav With Its Tip Chopped Off | We Must Have A Desire [For] Human Perfection | Aspire For Perfection, Daven For The Results | Perfection Is Attained In Stages | Realistic Aspirations | The Restrictions Of Believing “I’m Realistic” | A Lulav With Severed Leaves | Are We Connected To Our Mitzvos? | A Lulav With Spread Out Leaves | “They Seek Many Calculations” | Lulav Of The Har Habarzel | Designating Our Heart Towards Hashem | Lulav Is One Heart – One Desire
Shemini Atzeres & Simchas Torah | Two Joys 107
The Different Aspects of Joy | Joy Within Nature and Joy Above Nature | Above Nature | Within The Struggles, and Above the Struggles | After Yom Tov Is Over
After The Holy Days 113
Extending the Yom Tov into the Year | Accessing the State of Yom Tov Even During The Year | In Between Yomim Tovim | What We Can Learn From Yom Tov For The Rest of the Year | Yom Tov – Our Meeting With Hashem | Yom Tov - The Shechinah Within | Experience the Elation of Yom Tov and Then Seek To Maintain It | The Custom In Kelm of “Asiri Kodesh” | The Advice of the Ramchal | Make A Self Accounting | How To Avoid The Sleepiness of the Winter
Chanukah | Seeing the Beginning 129
Chanukah and The Number Eight: The Light That Is Above Time | Chanukah – A Revelation of The Light of Emunah | Seeing The Source Of All Light | Seeing Beginnings | Summary
Shovavim | Purifying Our Thoughts 138
Exile of Our Thoughts | Exile of The Thoughts - Today | The Avodah of The Days of “Shovavim” | Beginning The Day With A Pure Thought | In Conclusion
Tu B’Shvat | Seeing The Pure Root 145
Tu B’Shvat – The “Rosh HaShanah” of Trees | Connecting Our “Head” To Tu B’Shevat | The Power of Rosh/Head – Seeing The Beginning | Seeing The Pure Source of Things | Viewing Others As Pure Souls | Finding Holiness In The World Today | Superficial Purity Vs. Inner Purity | Turning Darkness Into Light | The “Rosh HaShanah of Trees” – Seeing The Pure Root of Each Thing | The Depth of Eating The Seven Species of Eretz Yisrael | Our Avodah On Tu B’Shevat – Eating The Fruits With Awareness of Their Source | In Summary
Purim | Rising Above Doubt 159
Exploring The Connection Between Purim and Yom Kippur | The War With Amalek/Doubt | The Inner Point of The Soul Where There Is No Doubt | Purim – Yom Kippur | Celebrating the Doubt–free Purim and Yom Kippur | Practically Applying This Concept
Pesach | The Time of Our Freedom 173
“Zman Cheiruseinu” – The Root of Our Inner Avodah | “Remove Your Body From Your Soul” | Tranquility of the Body Versus Freedom of the Soul | Yearn, With Joy, To Go Free
Lag BaOmer | Inner Bonfire 187
Growth In Soul, Time, and Place | The Advantage of Growth In Soul Vs. Growth Through Time and Place | Tools To Maintain Inspiration | Heart Matters Are Not Understood Every Day | The Mystery of Remembering Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai | The Special Time of Lag BaOmer | Lag BaOmer and Amalek | The Meaning Behind the Bonfires | Countering The ‘Separation’ Caused By Amalek: Connecting To Hashem | The Power Contained In Lag BaOmer: Overcoming Doubt | Hashem Is Here, There, and Everywhere | Above The Perspective of ‘Pesach Sheini’ | “There Is No Place That Is Empty From Him”
Shavuos | The Test 205
The Test That Returns Each Year | The Test At Har Sinai and Each Year | Striving For A Relationship With Hashem In Daily Life | Preparing For Shavuos: Making A Self-Accounting
The Nine Days | Awakening Yourself To Tears 215
How Do We Feel Sad At Losing Something We Never Had? | The Superficial and Inner Way To Feel Pain | Ideally we should mourn for all the Jewish People | If Someone Doesn’t Care About Spiritual Problems | Contemplate Another’s Pain
Tisha B’Av | Vitality From Mourning 222
A Time To Dread? | Why People View The Nine Days As “Depressing” | How Did Yirmiyahu Write Eichah? | Joy and Sadness At Once | Defining Sadness and Joy | Deriving Vitality From Life - and Death | Experiencing Life Enables One To Experience Mourning | Realizing The Loss of The Beis HaMikdash | Appreciating Our Life | The Loss of the Beis HaMikdash: The Loss of Life | Vitality Through Crying | Getting ‘Chiyus’ From The Nine Days | The Nine Days: Deriving Vitality From Death and Loss | Death: The Revelation of Our Eternal Life | Serving Hashem With Joy In The Nine Days | Connecting To Eternity | The Birth of Moshiach | The Depth of Our Consolation | How Do We Look At Life After Tisha B’Av?
Elul | Allowing Hashem To Enter Your Heart 243
My Beloved Friend, and My Father | Opening Your Heart So That Hashem Can Enter | Cleaning Out The Heart From The Many Desires | Giving Up One Desire 110 | From Friend To Father | Including Hashem In Your Problems | Practical Avodah To Appoint Hashem as “King” After Elul
Glossary 256